The Capitol police try to maneuver previous Jan. 6 — by shifting past D.C.

The United States Capitol Police announced Monday that the unnamed officer who shot and killed pro-Trump insurgent Ashli ​​Babbit outside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 6 is not subject to disciplinary action and that their actions were “lawful and within department policy”. “

With the statement that “the actions of the officer in this case may have saved members” [of Congress] and personnel from serious injuries and possible deaths, “the statement by the Capitol Police on Monday marks the latest step by the nearly 200-year-old law enforcement department to combat and overcome the attempted insurrection last year. As part of this effort, the Capitol Police will become expand from its eponymous location for the first time in its history by opening two branch offices in San Francisco and Tampa, Florida.

The announcement of the unopened branch offices was originally contained in a six-month retrospective statement on the January 6th riot released by the Capitol Police last June. While that statement gave little detail about the evolving plans, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that the impetus for the new offices was largely due to the increase in threats against members of Congress.

Speaking to the Chronicle, however, Republican Rodney Davis of Illinois noted that plans to open some form of branch office prior to the 6th insurrection from various states to and from DC were part of their protective roles.

“They’re not talking about opening their own individual offices,” said Davis. “You’re talking about working within the existing fusion centers. So it’s not like they’re setting up an agency. They will work hand in hand with local law enforcement agencies. “

These fusion centers – workplaces where several different intelligence and law enforcement agencies pool their resources and efforts – are a sign that the Capitol Police are taking post-January seriously. 6 allegations that they were largely unprepared for the Trump-inspired uprising that broke through their perimeter, or at least failed to divulge the relevant data to their respective law enforcement partners. In the same six-month retrospective report, the Capitol Police made a tacit admission that they were ill-prepared as an institution for what was to come, and wrote that the organization had committed “a new path towards an intelligence protection agency.”

Mike Sena, the executive director of the existing fusion center of the regional intelligence service in Northern California, offered comparisons with the US marshals or the Secret Service of what the expanded presence of the Capitol Police on site could look like.

“Working with people at the local and regional level who work with law enforcement at the federal, state and local levels on a daily basis reduces a lot of red tape and the lack of communication from people who might be in Washington DC, or people on the grind on site, “he told the Chronicle.

That the officer who shot and shot Babbitt – a source of significant anti-government conspiracy hate speech among Republicans – is not facing disciplinary or criminal charges suggests that the Capitol Police are ready to pursue their plans to transform the agency into a company of the 21. But the question arises: is the expansion of another law enforcement agency really good?